Tombstone Inscriptions & Burial Records

There is no need for Harrison County researchers to pull their hair out in looking for the final resting places of their kith and kin for they are, indeed, fortunate to have a good set of resources to examine in pursuing their search.

The bad news is that not everybody had a tombstone or grave marker, and few are the burial records which still exist, if they were ever kept at all.

The monument inscription books cited below are "must sees" for any researcher, but were compiled in the 1990s, many years after small family cemeteries had already suffered greatly from the ravages of time and were lost but to local memory.

Battle Grove Cemetery (est. 1869) burial records account for at least half of all known burials in the county, but offer few vital statistics, mostly just the age at death.  In the early years of Battle Grove's existence many burials were reinterments from small local and family cemeteries to gravesites in Battle Grove, and so their records must also considered a resource not just for burials of Cynthiana residents, but for the county as a whole.

Click on the following links or scroll on down to read more on these topics:

• Cemeteries of the County on the Web ONLY at HarrisonCountyKy.US!

• Even More Cemeteries on the Web

• Monument Transcription Indexes, Burial Records, & Cemetery Files

• Cemetery Records on Microfilm

• Locating Harrison County, Kentucky Cemeteries

• Cemetery Resources of Neighboring Counties

• Calculating Dates of Birth by Age at Date of Death

Cemeteries of the County on the Web

The grave markers of the following cemeteries have been cataloged and are only available at HarrisonCountyKY.US:

• Antioch Mills Cemetery

• Barlow Methodist Church Cemetery

• Benson Methodist Church Cemetery

• Curry Methodist Church Cemetery

• Colemansville Christian Church Cemetery

• Indian Creek Christian Church Cemetery

• Pythian Grove Cemetery

• Sunrise Cemetery

The following cemeteries can be visited by viewing selected photographs of the church, cemetery, and/or grave markers:

• Beaver Baptist Church Cemetery (Photos only)

• Indian Creek Baptist Church Cemetery (Photos only)

• Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church Cemetery (Photos only)

• Oddville Methodist Church Cemetery (Photos only)

Even More Cemeteries on the Web

In addition to the pages devoted to select cemeteries at HarrisonCountyKy.US there are a few sites online that relate to cemeteries in Harrison County, some are simply just lists of a few tombstone inscription readings, while some are quite detailed.

The following sites are independent of any larger cemetery transcription project, compiled and operated the cemetery itself or by individual researchers:

• Indian Creek Baptist Church Cemetery

• Sunrise Cemetery

• Raven Cemetery

A list of the original lot owners of the Old Graveyard on Main Street in Cynthiana has been posted at www.shawhan.com, as well as a "Record of Graves Still to Be Seen in 'Old Graveyard' at Cynthiana, Harrison County, Ky.", at least as they were able to be seen in 1928, when the list was compiled.

The Harrison County, Kentucky USGenWeb Archives Project has several lists of inscriptions developed by several volunteers.  Just click on the link to the project and scroll down to the "Cemeteries" listing.  As of January, 2010 information about the following cemeteries had been added to teh archives:

One can always check Interment.net (An online "cemetery transcription library") for their Harrison County cemetery listings page.

In addition to Interment.net the following sites have lists of Harrison County cemeteries with links which should be check occasionally for updates:

• Epodunk.com - Harrison County Cemeteries List (20 cemeteries as of August, 2007)

• Findagrave.com - Harrison County Cemetery Search Results (43 cemeteries as of August, 2007)

• Politicalgraveyard.com - Harrison County, Kentucky Page (A list of political figures buried in Battle Grove Cemetery)

• USGenWeb.com - Tombstone Transcription Project for Harrison County (5 cemeteries as of October, 2008)

The Desha Slave Cemetery was another Harrison County cemetery which did have pages devoted to it at several locations on the web, but the links once posted here are no longer current and recent searches have not been successful in locating it as of January, 2010.

Monument Transcription Indexes, Burial Records, & Cemetery Files

M O N U M E N T   I N S C R I P T I O N   I N D E X E S

One index which has been very helpful to me in my research is 100 Cemeteries of Harrison Co., Ky. by Larry L. Ford & Eric C. Nagle (FordNagle.com).  It is a alphabetical listing, by name, of monument inscription data (Name and dates of birth & death, as well as the burial location (name of cemetery)), which is apparently based on older lists of monument transcriptions, as well as from information obtained during personal visits to the cemeteries by the compilers.

Also, be sure to check the vertical file drawers in the Kentucky Room of the Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library, 104 North Main Street, in Cynthiana monument inscription data of individual cemeteries in Harrison County.  For instance, Doug Harper has compiled a fine index of tombstone inscriptions to be found in Benson Methodist Church Cemetery, along with a detailed plat of family plots within the cemetery.

B U R I A L   R E C O R D S

An index for Battle Grove Cemetery (1867-2005) also exists.  In the microfilm drawers of the Kentucky Room are two rolls of microfilmed records for Battle Grove (See table below).  The original records were microfilmed several years ago, and so are not completely up to date.  The index, as it existed when the records were microfilmed, and diagrams of the cemetery are also a part of the microfilmed record  (The microfilm can be ordered from the LDS in Salt Lake City, Utah).  Of course, the superintendent of Battle Grove has access to the originals as well as a comprehensive database of burials at the cemetery.

Charles Feix has compiled a thirty-page, spiral bound guidebook, which serves as a guide to the lives & graves of Harrison County notables whose graves can be found in Battle Grove Cemetery, such as Caleb W. West (Governor of Utah Territory), Nannie Holding (Director and namesake of the Holding Institute), Mattie Dee Todd (Niece of Abraham Lincoln & first postmistress of Cynthiana), Hervey McDowell McClellan (First professional baseball player from Cynthiana), Lucius G. Marshall (Founder of Cynthiana Graded City School), Alexander Kimbrough & Joseph Desha (Both of the famous Desha-Kimbrough Duel), Greenup Remington, William Moses Moore (Member of the Missouri & Kentucky legislatures), Lucinda Boyd (Local historian & author), Major John Shawhan (Politician & veteran of the Mexican & Civil Wars), Dr. Hervey McDowell & Andrew Jackson Beale (Confederate physicians), Harry M. Caudill (Kentucky legislator, lecturer, professor, & author), David Young (Inventor of Tylenol), & Moy Foo (Locally known as the "Chinaman").  Research of Battle Grove's Confederate Monument and of the graves of those Confederate veterans  surrounding the monument is also a featured item.

The guidebook, which includes a map, is $5.00 at the cemetery office.  To order by mail, send $7.00, which includes postage and handling, to: Battle Grove Cemetery, 531 East Pike Street, Cynthiana, Kentucky 41031.  All proceeds are used for purchasing trees and other beautification projects in the historic cemetery.  Visitors may also borrow the guidebook at the office.

Oddville Methodist Church Cemetery burial records are another resource which have been photocopied and placed in a comb-bound volume in a file for Oddville in the same file cabinets in the Kentucky Room.

C E M E T E R Y    F I L E S

The Christine Burgan Kentucky Room of the Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library maintains several file drawers full on several topics of interest to genealogists, such as family surnames, local community histories, and various other topics, including a drawer full of files on cemeteries, tombstone transcriptions, burial records, and church/cemetery histories.

You can just about find out where all the bodies are buried in Harrison County, by looking in the cemetery file drawer of the Kentucky Room . . . . No!, the bodies aren’t kept in the drawers, but there is a lot of information about where to go looking for them.

I don’t know that any listing of the files in the drawer has ever been made before, but thought I would make some notes on the contents for the cemetery pages at HarrisonCountyKy.US.

The drawer with the cemetery files is at the bottom of a four-drawer brown cabinet next to and to the left of the microfilm cabinets.  It is labeled:

Harrison County Cemeteries

Scott County Cemeteries

Millersburg Cemetery

The tabs on the hanging files in the drawer indicate materials on the following cemeteries or topics:

Anderson Family Cemetery

Barlow Methodist Cemetery

Battle Grove Cemetery & the Old Cemetery

Beckett Family Cemetery

Benson Methodist Church Cemetery

Bracken County Cemeteries

Buzzard Family Cemetery

Buena Vista Cemetery

Cherry Grove Cemetery

Clark Family Cemetery

Collier Family Cemetery

Colemansville Cemetery

Courtney Family Cemetery

Cemetery - Duffy Records

Duncan Family Cemetery

Fowler Family Cemetery

Indian Creek Baptist Church Cemetery

Ingles Family Cemetery

Kendall Family Cemetery

Kentontown Cemetery

King Family Cemetery

Lenox FamilyCemetery

Mt. Gilead Christian Church Cemetery

McKenney, McKenny, McKinney/Crosthwaite, Morgan/Hutsell, Henry/Sydnor Cemetery

Mt. Pleasant Cemetery

Mt. Zion Methodist Cemetery

Nicholas County Cemeteries

Oddville Cemetery

Old Richland Baptist Cemetery

Old Cemetery - Main St., Cynthiana, Ky.

Old Salem Cemetery

Pendleton County Cemeteries

Old Republican Cemetery

Pythian Grove Cemetery

Rutter Family Cemetery

Salem Church Cemetery

Smith Family Cemetery

Swinford Cemetery (In same hanging file as Sunrise Cemetery)

Sunrise Cemetery (In same hanging file as Swinford Cemetery)

Union Baptist Cemetery

Wagoner’s Chapel Cemetery

Walker Family Cemetery

Whitehead Family Cemetery

The list above is accurate as of January, 2007.  The contents of each file vary, and some files are rather thin and contain just a few papers, while others contain thick printouts of data or photocopies of original records

Of course there are other cemetery resources to be found in the Kentucky Room for Harrison County, including the transcriptions of Methodist cemeteries compiled by Doug Harper and 100 Cemeteries of Harrison County, Kentucky by Larry Ford & Eric Nagle.

Cemetery Records on Microfilm

The Kentucky Room in the Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library, 104 North Main Street, in Cynthiana has an extensive collection of local records on microfilm.  The following table describes their microfilmed cemetery record holdings, which are grouped together with microfilmed church records, which might be helpful in cemetery research if the cemetery in which you are interested is paired with one of the churches listed below:

Getting Ready for a Cemetery Expedition

Every genealogist or family historian has a favorite research facility, perhaps it is just the local history room of a public library, the records room of a courthouse, the exhibit hall of a local county museum, or even a larger facility such as a state library, archives, museum, or historical society.   Other favorite haunts are closer to home, or even up or down a few stairs, in the dark and forgotten corners of attics, basements, and closets of older relatives.  Sometimes sitting in rooms of files and old records can make one feel a little claustrophobic, and so one needs to get out in some fresh air.  There exists a place that serves the genealogist well, a place where our ancestors themselves have been filed away, and where there is no place to get any closer to them . . . and that place is the local cemetery!

Harrison County has nearly a hundred known cemeteries within its borders, if not more, and so it would seem to be a virtual heaven on earth for the genealogist!  The largest cemetery in the county is Battle Grove Cemetery in Cynthiana.  Established in 1869 and with over 14,000 burials, it now contains more than half of the county’s known burials.  Pythian Grove Cemetery which has served the Berry community since the 1890s, ranks second, followed by Sunrise Cemetery.  Churchyard cemeteries and the even smaller family cemeteries and plots can be found all over the countryside, representing a substantial but much smaller portion of the remaining known burials within the county.

Kentucky law (KRS 381.710) defines a cemetery as “any tract of land has been set apart for burial purposes,” that if ”a part or all of the grounds has been used for burial purposes [it] shall be evidence that such grounds were set aside and used for burial purposes.”  The law further states that “the fact that graves are not visible on any part of the grounds shall not be construed as evidence that such grounds were not set aside and used for burial purposes.”  This legal definition is simply the codification of common sense, i.e. a cemetery exists where the bodies of the deceased have been buried, regardless of the existence of any grave markers, fences or plantings to indicate the presence of any gravesite.

But of course, the family historian or genealogist does not visit cemeteries just to commune with ones ancestors, unless he is a psychic perhaps.  The family researcher wants to make discoveries about his research subjects and to fill in blanks in pedigree charts and family group sheets and he can only do this by locating and recording biographical data recorded in the inscriptions of grave markers, when the markers can be located.

One of the first sad lessons learned in researching a genealogy is the fact that so many small family cemeteries have been destroyed in Kentucky.  Many centuries-old cemeteries which were documented as late as just after World War II are no longer to be seen or found because of neglect, vandalism, or development.

In addition, one must realize before beginning cemetery research or mounting an expedition to any cemetery that not every grave was marked, or even if it was, it may be no longer.  The gravesites of the county’s first generations of settlers are rarely to be seen.  Many early citizens of the 18th and 19th centuries were buried near their homes on family farms, on informal lots which, over time, came to suffer from neglect and were poorly maintained from one generation to the next.  Many of the old homesteads with their family plots passed out of the hands of descendants when estates were broken up, when lands sold and more and more people left the countryside for bigger towns and cities.  It really wasn't until after the Civil War, with the establishment of many of the county’s larger private cemeteries and the foundation of local churches with their attendant graveyards, that the deceased could finally rest in a sounder and more secure location.  These private and church cemeteries account for the majority of known gravesites today.

And if you are of European descent and feel a little discouraged by the fact that your ancestors’ graves can no longer be located, for whatever reason, one only has to review a few antebellum U.S. Census records to realize that once nearly a fifth of Harrison County’s population consisted of thousands of slaves, but one would be hard pressed to come up with a list of even a hundred or so marked graves which could be located today.

If you are fortunate enough to have discovered the Harrison County gravesite of your research subject by using resources such as 100 Cemeteries of Harrison County, Kentucky, Battle Grove Cemetery burial records on microfilm, or have been able to examine any of the cemetery records on file in the Kentucky Room of the Cynthiana-Harrison County Public Library, then you have completed the first step-- you know where to go.

Before you walk out the door, however, you need to be sure to take along the proper equipment for the expedition, especially if you are traveling far from home, to be sure to make your visit worth while and take enough of the right tools to be able to thoroughly document what you see and learn during your visit.  Not only will you want to record the biographical data found on the tombstones themselves, but also the layout of the plot where the grave marker is located and the names on the graves in nearby spaces or neighboring plots.

Before You Go

The first thing you should have done before making the trek to visit any cemetery is to have contacted the sexton, caretaker, or superintendent of the cemetery to inquire about the location, visiting hours, and their rules and regulations.  Of course, you should inquire about whatever records they might have which were generated by your research subject's burial and then whether or not any of those records still exist so that you may have some photocopies made.

Several larger north and central Kentucky cemeteries such as Highland Cemetery (highlandcemetery.com) in Ft. Mitchell (Kenton County) and Lexington Cemetery (www.lexcem.org) have online databases and query forms that you can use to help you discover where your research subjects are buried before you arrive.  Battle Grove Cemetery in Cynthiana, which contains over half of the county's known burials, has no such web presence, but does have a knowledgeable superintendent who has several sets of easily accessible records at his disposal with which to answer queries.

Contact information for the officials of smaller cemeteries may not be readily available until you arrive on scene, but local funeral directors (the Drake-Whaley-McCarty Funeral Home, the Ware Funeral Home, and Woodhead Funeral Home in Harrison County) and veteran historical society members will often know who to contact for information.  Given that many small rural cemeteries are paired with a church around which they were established, a directory of churches or weekly worship services, usually published regularly in local newspapers such as The Cynthiana Democrat in Harrison County, should be of some help in making contacts.

Tools to Take

It seems that whenever Indiana Jones packs his bag before embarking on some quest for a grave, tomb, or other antiquity, all he takes is a revolver, a bullwhip, and a fedora.  For the family historian, the fedora or some similar hat is probably "a must" for those hours and days of wandering about a cemetery in the hot sun.  If traveling by plane, the TSA will probably frown upon the gun, and who knows what they or your fellow passengers will think of the whip, and so a lot of people will rest easier if you can leave them at home!

Depending on what you want to do, the list of supplies to take on an expedition to any cemetery can almost seem endless.  If you are traveling from afar, one has to take into consideration what might get past TSA regulations at the airport (Depending on what you use, that probe for locating gravesites might be a hard one to explain!), but most of what you will need can be found at the local Walmart, hardware (VanHook’s), or grocery store (Food Lion or Ken’s) in Cynthiana upon your arrival in Harrison County.

Of course the most basic tools are a supply of paper and a pen or pencil to write with and record not only the biographical data found on each stone, but the layout of the grave markers relative to one another who share the same plot as your research subject, in addition to those grave markers neighboring on neighboring spaces plots.  Just as you may have discovered that people who appear near or next to your research subject's name on a census enumeration may have been relatives of your research subject, so to may be the case with their neighbors in a cemetery!

A straight-edged ruler might be needed to as a guide for any diagrams you may need to draw, and a long tape measure might be helpful to measure the grave(s) or plot(s), from one grave to another, or from one cornerstone to another, if they can be found.  Being able to determine the outlines of what may be a family plot could help to locate potential, yet not obviously apparent, burial sites of those who don't have a marker any more, or for whom a marker was never placed, especially when burial records are non-existent and memories have faded.

If you plan on making any tombstone rubbings you will need supplies such as a paper for the rubbing surface (Pellon, newsprint, and butcher or tissue paper are options, depending on the final appearance you wish to achieve), rubbing materials such as crayon, charcoal, or chalk, something with which to attach the paper to the marker, such as tape, rubber bands, or string, making sure that no tape adhesive comes into contact with the marker, if possible.  Tinfoil to use in making rubbings is also an option.  To safely transport your hard-earned rubbings away from the cemetery, a spray fixative to help preserve the rubbing and a storage container such as a tube or large portfolio to help protect your rubbing will be necessary.

Take some supplies to help clean off a grave marker should it be too dirty or covered over with vegetation to be easily read.  A handheld whisk broom or a pair of garden gloves may be just the right tools for brushing away grass clippings, fallen leaves, or bird droppings.  A can of compressed air, like you might by to clean computer keyboards, might be the easiest tool to use to get grass clippings and other small debris out of deeply engraved lettering for a cleaner looking photograph.  Some hand-held garden clippers or shears might be necessary to do some trimming around a stone, but be mindful of cutting away what you might consider a weed, as it could be somebody else's carefully planted flower or shrub.

For a little more intensive cleaning job, take along some water (a bottle of water might do for a tombstone or two, but a gallon or more might be necessary for a whole plot) and a scrub brush with soft bristles, such as a dish brush.  Some toothbrushes might also be helpful.

A trowel and/or putty knife (plastic tools would seem preferable, so as not to cause any accidental damage that their metal counterparts would) might be necessary to remove some dirt from around a stone, especially those with engraved texts on their sides which may have sunken into the ground, making the inscription more difficult or impossible to read.

Bring a supply of paper towels, old cloth rags, or a sponge might help to wipe away debris as well, and help in cleaning up any messes and drying off tombstones so as to take a better photograph.

Take a probing tool of some sort, but not to locate caskets buried deep underground.  Cornerstones which mark the outlines of family plots are easily lost, as their topmost surfaces are meant to barely peek above ground level and so are easily covered over by grass and clippings from frequent mowings.  You may also probe to find small footstones which have been similarly covered over or which have sunken into the ground.  Even larger grave markers may be discovered by probing, especially the old flat upright tombstones which were once so popular and which may have fallen over and become lost in the grass.

A tarp, an old blanket, plastic garbage bags, a towel or even a garden kneeling pad may be necessary to place on the ground so that you can kneel or lie down to get just the right angle on the grave marker(s) you are documenting, rubbing, or photographing.

As a general rule, leave any cleansing chemicals or detergents at home, unless you are capable, knowledgeable, and serious enough about treating and restoring a marker and seeing to its maintenance over the coming years. 

On the other hand, there are some beneficial chemicals you might want to take, but for your own preservation, not for a tombstone, especially in the summer:  sun screens, hand cleansers or wipes, and bug repellents.  In case the bugs are persistent a suplly of itch medications might be necessary if the bug repellents aren’t enough!  Snakes have been seen in Harrison County cemeteries, and so a first aid or snake bite kit might be something to consider.

Whatever you do to clean up the appearance of a stone, whether it is just to photograph it or document it in some other manner, do not improve upon its position.  While it may be tempting to take a stone which has obviously been deliberately or accidentally been removed from its apparent original position, it shouldn't be done on your own without the expertise, knowledge, and the cooperation of those who will see to the grave's maintenance in future years.

Going High-Tech

In the 21st century it seems just about everybody is equipped with a camera cell phone, perhaps even one that has some capability to record sound.  In a crunch, such an all-in-one might suffice, but the capabilities are limited and the quality often too poor for what is really needed to thoroughly document your cemetery research.

While not totally necessary, a camera seems the best tool to prove you have been there and to share your discoveries with relatives and other researchers.  If you find yourself taking a lot of tombstone pictures, a digital camera is best, and a 2 megapixel camera will take fine quality images.  Some digital cameras have limited capabilities for recording motion, should you want to record a panorama of the cemetery, for instance, but if this doesn't fulfill your needs, a camcorder may have to suffice, and many of them offer still photography capabilities.  Just make sure the batteries in your electronic devices are fully charged before you go and that you have plenty of film, memory cards, and/or film cartridges or discs installed and on hand.  Spare batteries will probably be needed for any extensive documentation project, and you may want to consider purchasing the proper connectors or chargers for your devices so as to be able to recharge your batteries from your car's electrical system.

It seems that a GPS device is just about a standard fixture in a lot of cars these days, and a handheld model can help to pinpoint the location of graves which are known but are not marked, or are perhaps in danger of becoming overgrown by vegetation or damaged or destroyed by construction projects or simply by a negligent mowing crew.

Many who had compiled books of readings from monument inscriptions use a tape recorder or a digital voice recorder (DVR) to help to save time in documenting biographical data and other notes you might want to take, especially if the weather is too bad to spend much time outside with a pencil and paper.  I prefer the digital voice recorder as it saves on the cost of tapes and finding a place to store them, whereas if you purchase the right kind of digital voice recorder, you can copy the recorded file to a computer's hard drive.  Just make sure you purchase a DVR which allows for sound files to be removed or copied from the DVR, as well as DVR which records in file formats which can be played by most computer software (WAV, WMA, MP3, etc.).  Some DVRs have a proprietary format which requires special software from the device's manufacturer, but most formats can be easily converted as the need arises with the use of shareware or freeware, or even the purchase of the correct software.

These are just a few high-tech options to keep in mind.